- ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP)
- A mammoth cargo plane brought more US troops and equipment to this southern
Philippine city Thursday as President Gloria Arroyo's top security officials
defended their deployment to join operations against Muslim guerrillas
before a skeptical Senate.
The US airforce C-17 plane unloaded about a dozen troops along with a military
truck, a generator and various boxes of supplies at this city's international
airport.
The provisions will be used by some 600 US troops for a six-month joint
military training exercise, which could include forays into the jungle
strongholds of Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas believed to be allied to the
al-Qaeda network of terror suspect Osama bin Laden.
"We are here to help train the Filipino soldiers," said Colonel
Steven Woods, head of the US delegation that arrived from Okinawa.
The Abu Sayyaf is holding two Americans and a Filipina hostage in Basilan
island, across the strait from here, and is the subject of a massive military
operation involving more than 5,000 Filipino troops.
President Arroyo has repeatedly said the US troops will only train Filipino
soldiers in counter-terrorism, although they would be allowed to the frontlines
as armed observers and can defend themselves if attacked.
Security was tight at the Zamboanga airport as the American troops in full
combat gear, complete with helmets and assault rifles, disembarked and
were escorted to the local military base here.
In Manila, Arroyo's security officials faced a grilling by senators questioning
the legality of the entry of US troops for possible combat on Philippine
soil, which is prohibited by the constitution.
The Senate's public hearing was meant to clear doubts on the joint exercise,
which have been described by observers as an extension of US-led global
war on terrorism that began in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, Arroyo won a crucial victory when she got consensus from
top security officials and leaders from congress in support of the US troop
deployment.
Brigadier General Emmanuel Teodosio, the Philippine coordinator of the
military exercise, told the Senate hearing on Thursday the operation would
last only six months and end by mid-June, contrary to various reports that
it could last till the end of the year.
He said only 55 US soldiers were already in the south but that more would
be coming in by early-February for "immersion at the battalion and
possibly the company levels," but stressed that the US trooops "will
be present ... not to fight but rather to be observers."
Teodosio said that a US 12-man team would accompany the Philippine battalion
in Basilan with some staying at battalion headquarters and two trainers
each to be deployed with the six companies of Philippine soldiers.
He and other officials assured the senators that the US troops would be
in the rear of the operations although they could fire back in self-defense.
The Americans will assess the performance of Philippine troops and will
apply this in training local troops in counter-terrorism, boosting their
capabilities against the Abu Sayyaf, Teodosio said.
Military chief of staff General Diomedio Villanueva said he would ask that
the US trainors stay at the company headquarters instead of joining in
the field operations.
"They may be free to survey the area before or after combat or they
can summon or ask some of the personnel what they did," Villanueva
said.
One of the speakers at the Senate hearing, former senator and opposition
leader Juan Ponce Enrile charged that the government was carrying out a
"grand deception" to let Americans into the country to handle
the actual fighting against the Abu Sayyaf.
Copyright © 2001 AFP
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